Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings.   Today’s post is going to focus on the concept of Faery Changelings!   I have long been fascinated by the concept of Changelings, given Changelings are very prominent in much of old Faerylore.   However, I tend to have a bit of a different relationship with the concept of Changelings than most people may have, given I do not think that Changelings are necessarily a malevolent force!

Now, I will acknowledge that the fear of Changelings has wrought so much darkness in the real world.    I have written about the Bridget Cleary case in the past, which is a horrific case of an Irish woman murdered in the late nineteenth century by her husband when he claimed to believe that she was a Changeling!    This is the last known case of someone being put to death under the belief that they were a Changeling, and it happened not very long ago, all things considered.   Yet, this is a case of humans committing horrific acts due to their belief in Changelings, not the horrors of Changelings themselves!

When it comes to Changelings themselves, the fear is rooted in the fact that Changelings are swapped out for humans, whose guise they will wear.    It is most often children, nursing mothers, and young women that are taken.   This is stated in Faerylore to be because the Fae have naturally low birth rates and leaving a sickly Fae child (or an old Fae, or sometimes even just an enchanted object) in place of a healthy human one will help one day bolster the birth rates by infusing human blood into the ranks of Faery, and the same can be said for taking young woman who can become mothers of half-Fae children and nursing mothers who can become wet-nurses for Fae children.   There are many cases of men being taken as well, to become lovers to Fae women, but in the old Faerylore, men are often taken for a set amount of time, seven years being common, and then able to return with many gifts of Faery.   This would make the necessity of a Changeling not necessarily apply, as they are meant to return one day.    Changelings are often said to act differently than the humans they have replaced, meaning that a baby that becomes difficult to soothe, or a woman who begins to act differently than she once did may be a Changeling in disguise.   The fear is that your loved one will never return and that the Changeling may want to harm you, as they certainly may act out if accused of being Fae instead of human. 

So, that all does seem pretty dark and upsetting, so why do I think that Changelings are not necessarily evil?   In my research into Changelings, there is more wickedness done by humans out of fear than by the Changelings themselves.   As stated above, the Bridget Cleary murder is a prime example of this fact.   However, Changelings themselves are not the root cause of the dangers that surround them.   In most cases, the Changeling had no choice whether or not to come into the human world (or are doing so wanting to live out the rest of their days in comfort, in the case of elderly Fae being swapped for infants).   The choice of swapping the Changeling would have been made by the Faery Queen or King ruling that particular Faeryland the Changeling was born in, meaning that the mere fact of being a Changeling should not be held against them, in my thinking.   Most stories of Changelings have them acting oddly, but not causing any harm until they are confronted by humans wanting their family member back (which is totally understandable, as anyone would want their actual loved one returned).   The problem arises when we look at the fact that in many cases the humans are torturing the Changeling to get them to reveal themselves, which makes the Changeling attacking in return really an act of self-defense!    

Maybe I have a more nuanced opinion on Changelings themselves than most because as a little girl, I always felt like I was unlike most people around me, even thinking I was really born a Water Faery, and was a Changeling myself.   While I do have deep connections to the Fae, and some Fae blood, I know that was not the case, obviously, but the fascination with Changelings has not left me.   But no matter the reason, I think that my deeper reading of Changelings adds some texture to the conversation about this aspect of Faerylore.    I hope you have enjoyed reading my thoughts about Changelings.   Do you think Changelings are just evil?   Do you think they could have redeeming qualities?   Do you think human fear made Changeling’s stories more dire than they could have been?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!  

 Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a lovely painting that depicts a version of Changelings.    I found the image on https://longreads.com/2018/06/08/fairy-scapegoats-a-history-of-the-persecution-of-changeling-children/.  (This article is an excellent look at how Changelings were likely used to explain children with disabilities, a sad truth for many children who were not like other people before we understood the truth.    I did not write about this in the post, as I was focusing on an understanding that Changelings and the Fae are real, so from a spiritual perspective rather than a logical mundane human reason for Changeling stories, but I wanted to acknowledge it here given where I found the image).   

Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services!    I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon!  Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/

Further Reading

• A New Dictionary of Fairies by Morgan Daimler
• The Book of Faery Magic by Lucy Cavendish & Serene Conneeley
• A Witch’s Guide to the Faery Folk by Edain McCoy
• Enchantment of the Faerie Realm by Ted Andrews
• Fairies: A Dangerous History by Richard Sugg